Images used in GPWEEK are shot by the photo-artists at Sutton Images. Posters available of any shot – CLICK HERE for more information Interested in Aussie V8 Supercars? CLICK HERE to access Australasian Motorsport e News ... ... confirms ‘j-damper’ approval RENAULT F1 Team Executive Director of Engineering Pat Symonds has said that his team’s new suspension concept, which is widely believed to be a J-type damper, has received FIA approval. Following an article in GPWeek (Issue 009 – May 5-11), questions have been raised as to how Renault could legally have run a ‘J-type’ damper given the team’s insistence to the FIA World Motorsport Council in 2007 that, following its sighting of McLaren’s ‘J damper’ drawings, the technology “has not been used, nor will it be used, on the Renault car.” When quizzed on the subject by GPWeek in Canada, Symonds was bold in his response: “All I can say is that everything on our car has been checked by the FIA. We don’t develop new technologies on the car any more without asking the FIA and asking very, very clearly. “I think that was a lesson that we learned from the tuned mass dampers that we were running earlier where I think we just simply hadn’t really asked the question clearly enough. “So now everything that goes on the car that there might be even the slightest doubt about, we do check with the FIA, as to whether they are happy with it. “It is true that we ran new suspension components on the car in Barcelona and I can confirm that we checked very carefully with the FIA whether they felt that those suspension components infringed any technical regulations, sporting regulations or indeed the laws of the land.” The FIA has subsequently confirmed to GPWeek that Renault’s new suspension has been passed as legal although, at the time of going to press, could not provide an exact date on which the technology was inspected and approved. What remains unclear, is how it is possible for a team in Renault’s position to be able to prove that its designs had not benefitted from the team’s sighting of McLaren drawings. In the McLaren/Ferrari spygate scandal of 2007, McLaren voluntarily withdrew any 2008 developments which could have been influenced by the team’s sighting of confidential Ferrari drawings, thus drawing a satisfactory conclusion to the case in the eyes of the FIA. F1 NEWS >>